The Big Enchilada

for one thing.”
    “What’s that?”
    He thought for a minute. “I shouldn’t tell you, but what the hell. It can’t make any difference.... We found a pound of pure heroin in the trunk of Watkins’s car.”
    Nice touch. If I hadn’t found the note first, it would have looked very suggestive.
    “Then that should cinch it that it’s a frame.”
    “Or that Watkins was involved.”
    “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
    “A week ago, no. But Watkins had been acting funny, and then he disappeared, so now I’m not so sure.”
    “Look, you knew Watkins for a long time. What feels better to you? That he was involved in heroin traffic? Or that to make up for some mistakes, he stupidly started investigating on his own, found out something, and was killed before he could do anything about it?”
    He gave a big sigh. “I’ll go along with you, Hunter, though I’m damned if I know why. What do you have?”
    “I’ve got a line on an operation that’s bigger than you could imagine.”
    “So tell me.”
    “Now don’t take this the wrong way, but I think we should be dealing with a D.A.”
    His face grew red. He was taking it the wrong way. “I’m getting tired of you, Hunter. What’s all your talk about trust? You’ll tell me now or you’ll tell me down at the station. What the hell do you think I’m going to do?”
    “Take it easy, Burroughs. It’s not you. This thing is really big, and if we’re going to do it right, it’s going to take someone who can move hard, fast, and secretly.”
    “You think I’m going to announce it on the radio?”
    “I know you don’t have the authority to set it up on your own, and the more people you involve, the more chance there is that the wrong person will hear about it, and that’ll fuck it all up.”
    “Who are you afraid might hear about it?”
    “Ratchitt.”
    “Is he in this?”
    “With both hands up to his shoulders. He may even have done Charlie.”
    Burroughs’s face grew dark. “That scumbag. .He makes me want to puke. He’s as dirty as they come and he thinks it’s a joke. I’d love to get him.”
    Burroughs meant it. He might be an S.O.B., but he was straight.
    “I can take him down,” I said quietly.
    Burroughs looked at me, and as he did so, the expression in his eyes changed. He still didn’t like me, but the hard antagonism was gone.
    “What do you want?” he said after a long pause.
    “Can you get a D.A. with the authority—and the ability— to act quickly and quietly? And he’d better be squeaky clean. The bunch we’re up against has a lot of juice where it does the most good.”
    Burroughs thought a minute and then nodded. “Jim Green.”
    I knew who he was. He was an assistant district attorney who was young, tough, and ambitious. I told Burroughs he would do.
    “But you’ve got to give me something to take to him. He’s not going to agree to see you unless he knows what it’s about.”
    “Okay. It’s about a heroin factory in full operation. It’s about a private club that’s a brothel for kinky sex. It’s about prostitution—male, female, and children. It’s about blackmail of some of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the city. It’s about bribery and protection. It’s about a big producer of child pornography. It’s about the dirtiest cop of them all.”
    “You can deliver all that?”
    “I can. It’s also about the murder of four people—Watkins, my secretary, a P.I. named Stubby Argyll, and a cheap punk called Faro. My secretary is the only one that’s down as a homicide.”
    “Jesus Christ, Hunter! You don’t want to tell me about any of this now?”
    “Nope.”
    “Okay,” he said reluctantly. “I’ll get you your D.A.... Shit! I don’t know why I’m doing this. If this gets fucked up, we’re all in for it, and it won’t give me any satisfaction to know that you’ll get it worst of all.”
    I told him it wouldn’t give me any satisfaction either, but that I thought we could bring it off so that everyone smelled like roses—or at least like cheap after shave. Burroughs didn’t find that very funny. The man has no sense of humor.
    Burroughs left me after I cautioned him about a dozen times to be sure he talked to no one except the D.A., and to make sure the D.A. also said nothing to anyone.
    I was surprised to find that I was so nervous about this. I suppose that’s what comes from having to rely on other people. I didn’t like the feeling.

    Burroughs worked fast,